I crumpled on the ground, tears of horror streaming down my face. I'd walked into this place boldly, assuming fitting in would be easy, but this? I stifled the impulse to vomit as the smell of rotting death wafted from the next room over. Trembling, I glanced around the corner at the gory scene unfolding before me.
Sitting on the kitchen counter was a plate full of tiny little breaded corpses, arranged nauseatingly around a plastic cup of sauce.
I turned back around hastily, pressing my headphones against my head as the ink drained from my face. Was this how people were treated around here? Were they going to krill me in my sleep and put me on a plate next? Would they even wait for me to go to sleep?!
"Hey, um. . .are you OK? You don't look so good. . ." Someone asked from nearby. I couldn't bring myself to turn my head up to check who.
"I. . .I can't. . .I can't do this!" I choked out, crying even harder.
I curled up tighter, hugging my legs. I must be an absolute mess at this point, but I can't take this. This is wrong. Everything is so wrong.
"Wait, what's wrong?! Don't cry! Please don't cry. . ." He said, sounding worried.
I tried and failed to stifle my sobs for a moment. My head turned up to look at who was talking, but my eyes were too blurry to actually see. This must look absolutely ridiculous, but at the same time I couldn't stop shaking even if I wanted to. I guess I'd had more faith in everyone here than I should have.
"I. . .I want to go home. . ." I sobbed. I could hardly believe I was saying it, but after this. . .
"But you just got here! What could have happened that would make you want to leave already?!" He asked, shocked.
I turned my head and started to point, almost bringing myself to say it, but I couldn't bring myself to look at. . .that. . .again. I whipped back around and curled back up. It wasn't really any safer like this, but it kind of felt like it.
"What? Something in the kitche-. . ." He trailed off.
Of course he couldn't understand. None of them could. I suppose I could give him credit for one thing though, he spent an awful long time trying. I could still see his shadow over me even a solid minute of silence later. I guess it took him that long to figure out something to say.
"Are you. . .are you scared of some of the food or something?" He asked.
Reluctantly I nodded. I could tell he didn't have a grasp on the reason why, not in the slightest. But for him to even get in the same ballpark. . .I don't know, I guess it was comforting in a way. I didn't expect him to even guess that closely.
There was another long silence. I could smell something dead burning again from around the corner, and I struggled with the urge to gag.
". . .I was going to go skip out on dinner today and order some pizza. Would you like it if I got you some too?" He asked.
Against all odds I found myself relaxing slightly. I probably shouldn't be, this might be a trick or. . .ah, I dunno. I still felt like a wreck, but I guess the worst was over somehow. Or maybe I'm just hungry and it's nice to have something offered that doesn't make me feel like a cannibal.
"You're not going to. . .you're not going to eat the prawns?" I asked nervously.
"What? Oh gosh no! I can't even bring myself to look directly at tempura after. . ." He paused for a moment, his voice wavering a bit. "Not after the incident."
At this point I finally brought myself to look at who I was talking to. The first thing I noticed was the awkward expression on his tiny little head. He had a messy tuft of long mammal fur instead of tentacles, and his face looked oddly hard. I wondered for a moment if this was what a human looked like, but then my eyes drifted further back. It took me a moment to realize, but he had one defining feature that humans very definitely did not. My eyes glanced up and down the snowy white bird wings in moderate surprise. Was he some kind of mutant. . .?
"This incident didn't involve you trying to . . .eat them, did it?" I asked warily.
"Are you kidding? They were trying to eat m-nope, nope, I'm not going back there. I am not going back to thinking about that!" He responded, looking like he was having some kind of Great Turf War flashback.
The two of us exchanged an awkward look. I guess I wasn't the only one who wasn't having any of this today after all. Huh.
". . .So. . .you interested in the pizza?" He asked.
"That would be fresh, thank you." I answered, smiling weakly.
He grinned after I said that, almost looking like he was about to jump for joy. He seemed so relieved that I was starting to feel a little better. . .was he really so nice? Actually, scratch that. No one acts this goofy about managing to comfort someone if they have an agenda.
"So what toppings do you want? Cheese, pepperoni, works? To be honest I'm kind of hoping you won't ask for veggie, heh. Getting kind of tired of having those healthy pizzas ordered, it just doesn't taste the same. But I mean, if you want veggie it's fine, we can order a veggie pizza too!"
As he rattled off pizza suggestions, he started to walk away. I thought about following, but I was still a bit in shock from everything today and was having a bit of trouble. . .convincing myself. He had almost left the room when he realized I wasn't following, but when he did he whipped around surprisingly quick.
"You're coming, right?" He asked.
"I'm not sure if I can get up." I frowned.
He jogged back over to where I was sitting, extending an arm forward to me. I looked up, and he smiled. Taking his hand, I smiled back, a bit less weakly this time.
It's probably cheesy of me to think this, but maybe this place isn't so bad after all.
. . .OK, make that definitely cheesy. I think I'm about to gag just thinking that. Forget all this emotional carp, time to drown my anxiety in some sweet-bass pizza.